History of Black Cinema: A Conversation with Michael J. Dennis and Charles Wood

Thursday February 29th 2024 at 6:30 PM

The Greater Philadelphia Film Office and Filmmaker, educator, curator and media host Michael J. Dennis of Reelblack are excited to bring you the History of Black Cinema: A Conversation with Mike Dennis. Mr. Dennis will be screening his short film Savages, Servants and Specialty Acts (2020) and taking part in a Q&A about the film.

About the Film: Slavery never ended. It is time we break the chains! While the physical enslavement of Africans may have been abolished in the US in 1865, the mental enslavement of Blacks worldwide continues. Savages, Servants and Specialty Acts, demonstrates how Black Identity is largely dictated by The White Imagination. Using rare film clips and archival footage, Film historian Charles Woods demonstrates how we were indoctrinated into a belief system of White Supremacy and Black Inferiority through the use of the motion picture and perpetuates itself in all mass media. From the Tarzan movies of the 1930s to Black Panther and Queen & Slim, the subversive tricks still exist—even when Black filmmakers are in control.

About the Filmmakers:

Michael J. Dennis

Michael J. Dennis is a filmmaker, educator, curator and media host based in Philadelphia, PA.

His company, Reelblack, is committed to educating, entertaining, enlightening and empowering through film.  As curator and host of Reelblack Presents (2003-2019), he introduced local audiences to independent work by makers  like Jeymes Samuels (Book of Clarence), Pete Chatmon (Insecure), Matthew Cherry (Hair Love) and Chinonye Chukwu (Till). Reelblack TV on YouTube is an archive for rare media that has amassed over 1.3 million subscribers since 2007.  He co-hosted Reelblack Radio on WURD with broadcaster Stephanie Renee from 2015-2018.

He has worked for Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Spike Lee, Warrington Hudlin, Todd Phillips, Jim Swaffield, Lee Daniels and wrote a screenplay for Chris Rock. He most recently served as Executive Producer on the 2K restoration of Sam Firstenberg’s 1989 action film, Riverbend, starring Steve James and Margaret Avery.

His work has screened worldwide and won countless awards, including the CNN I Report Film Festival and the Henry Hampton Prize for documentary at the Roxbury Film Festival. His YouTube videos have helped expose millions to the wisdom of deep thinkers like Dick Gregory, Patrice O’Neal, Charles Woods and Mr. Paul Mooney.

Mr. Dennis was a founding member of ARRAY, Ava DuVernay’s Film Distribution Collective; The Philly Film Critics Circle and Councilman David Oh’s Black Film Advisory Committee. He served as President of the Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association for two years.

A Graduate of New York University and The American Film Institute, He currently teaches Film and General Studies at Temple University. His CashApp is $Reelblack

For more information and to purchase merchandise, visit www.reelblack.com

Charles Woods

For more than fifty years, Charles Woods has studied and archived memorabilia depicting the images of African Americans in motion pictures. He has presented countless film series in all boroughs of New York, for colleges, libraries, museums and various historical societies. During the 1970's through the 1980's, Mr. Woods was constantly sought after for his expertise to provide historical perspective and film footage for numerous television specials such as: Essence: The Television Program; Brown Sugar: Eighty Years of America's Black Female Super Stars; Images and Realities: African American Men and Images and Realities: African American Women. And many other similar programs as a consultant to The Gene Davis Group. He was the co-founder of The Black Films Preservation Committee, based in New York.

In 1993, he created and managed The 43rd Chamber, located in the heart of Times Square, New York.

From its opening until its closing in 2002, this unique boutique store was recognized as one of the primary locations to acquire rare, hard-to-find copies of "Race", "Blaxploitation", and "Kung-Fu" genre films.

About the GPFO: The Greater Philadelphia Film Office (GPFO) is a “film commission” representing southeastern Pennsylvania that officially serves the counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia.

Our Goals are threefold. First, we serve to grow the local film and video industry in every way possible, recognizing its huge economic impact in job creation and its unparalleled public relations effects for the region. Second, we serve to attract film & video production to the region, including everything from feature films to TV commercials to music videos and industrial films. Finally, we provide the producer invaluable assistance with parking, permits, labor, and locations, and generally act as the liaison between the production and the local community, cutting red tape as we go. A non-profit economic development agency committed to the growth of the regional film and video production industry, GPFO has been responsible for impacting the local economy with nearly $6B since 1992.